April | 2015 | Attie and Dora

There is a project queue forming in my sewing room this month. I have so many plans for sewing projects waiting for me to find time to sew them up. As you may know, one of these is my vintage pledge pattern. The contrast Lilou idea was conceived as an ‘in the mean-time’ project, while waiting for the vintage pledge pattern’s fabric to arrive. I thought it would be a quick make, as I had already used this pattern before here. Alas, I decided to try a different size, with different modifications and due to the see-through nature of the mint green polka dot fabric, decided to line the entire dress in a contrasting red lining material. Needless to say, this project became far more labour intensive than originally anticipated and therefore put the vintage pledge project on hold. Whoops.

Oh well. In short, I am really happy with how this project turned out. I like the style of the dress, it has a vintage, sort of ballerina feel to it in this fabric. There are still some issues with fit. I made it a size smaller than my last attempt, and increased the bodice length by 2 inches. Mostly the fit is good, but it is slightly tight under my armpits. The size up from this was far too big in the bodice before I altered it, so I think for my next attempt I will stick with the smaller size, but try and do a full bust adjustment. I am really starting to appreciate the art of fitting. I have a lot to learn.

I followed Tilly’s excellent instructions again for construction and was really chuffed by how much easier I found the process second time around. My sewing skills have definitely improved since my first Lilou. I used my new Bernina overlocker to finish some of the seams and it was so exciting to try it out on a project and see what it can do.

Finally, a little off topic, but thought I would share a picture with you of the newest addition to the croft this week. Our first Lamb of the season. Happy Sunday everyone.